Snooks Eaglin (1937-2009)

New Orleans R&B legend Snooks Eaglin passed away yesterday. He had prostate cancer.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune obituary is here.

Mr. Eaglin, a virtuoso guitarist, was known locally as “the human jukebox” for his massive personal repertoire of folk, jazz, blues and soul tunes (plus, I’m told, the complete works of Bad Company). The man could not be stumped when it came to requests.

Blind since infancy, Eaglin was billed as “Li’l Ray Charles” early in his career. He went on to record with giants of New Orleans music such as Dave Bartholomew, Professor Longhair and James Booker.

Click here to hear “Brown Skinned Woman,” an acoustic blues from 1961, on my Vox blog.